Aztec ends shooting drought with 3-pointer in final seconds to beat Boise State

Chase Tapley hadn’t made a 3-pointer since falling on his right wrist against New Mexico. He missed all five he attempted Saturday in a loss at Air Force. He had missed four Wednesday against Boise State at Viejas Arena when the ball squirted to him in the left corner, facing a two-point deficit, the clock ticking five, four, three …

What else was he supposed to do?

“Might as well shoot it,” Tapley said.

Goooooooood.

It might be premature to say it saved San Diego State’s season, but it did give the Aztecs an improbable 63-62 victory against Boise State that they otherwise didn’t deserve on a night that more weird stuff happened in the Mountain West. Two hours earlier, UNLV — the team picked a close second behind SDSU in the preseason poll — was losing at last-place Fresno State.

The Aztecs (17-5, 5-3) avoided a similar fate. Barely.

This was a game they once led by 17 and didn’t trail for the first 34:17. And did trail 61-60 when Boise State’s Derrick Marks, an 87-percent free thrower, went to the line with 11 seconds left. Marks made the first, missed the second, and the wild scramble was on.

Jamaal Franklin raced to the other end, just as he had on the previous possession to score, but this time he lost the ball trying to slice through traffic. The ball rolled along the floor, then popped out to the left corner to Tapley.

“I thought, ‘I’ve just got to make the shot,’ ” said Tapley, who had never made a game-winner in high school or four seasons of college. “You’ve been here before. You practice it. You have to have confidence. As soon as it left my hands, I knew it was going in.”

Goooooooood.

Tapley finished with 12 points, but nine of those came either at the line or on drives to the basket. James Rahon had 16 points, Franklin 14 and JJ O’Brien 10 on a night when the Aztecs were outrebounded and were 8 of 18 from the line.

For the Broncos (15-7, 3-5), it was all too familiar, losing twice in the closing seconds last year to the Aztecs.

SDSU coach Steve Fisher met with Xavier Thames and team physician Dr. Christopher Behr on Tuesday night, and the decision emerged to sit him against the Broncos. It was the fourth game he has missed, all during the Mountain West season.

But it also means if he goes Saturday against Fresno State, he’d have a full two weeks of rest since his last attempt at playing (coming off the bench against New Mexico on Jan. 26).

Without him, the Aztecs stuck with their recent starting lineup with Rahon replacing Thames on the floor, O’Brien running the point on offense and Tapley covering the opposing point on defense. One new twist was several possessions with Tapley — still not a perimeter threat with his sprained right wrist — as the primary ballhandler.